By KEITH RUSSELL
Staff Writer

It’s official: More homes were sold in the Nashville area in 2004 than in any previous year, as low interest rates and stable economic trends kept the housing market on the upswing for a fourth consecutive year.

Newly released home sales figures for December put the finishing touches on a year in which the number of closings broke last year’s record total with a month to spare and in the process reduced the number of homes available on the market to levels not seen since the late 1990s.

”It’s just been an exciting year,” said Richard Exton, the incoming president of the Greater Nashville Association of Realtors, which reports the monthly sales information using data from RealTracs Solutions. ”It’s really exciting to see how many people are choosing Middle Tennessee as a place to call home.”

For the year, the Nashville area recorded 36,469 home sales, an increase of 14.4% over 2003’s record number. Last year also marked the second consecutive year in which sales eclipsed 30,000. Closings in December totaled 2,885, an 11.2% rise compared to the same month in 2003.

Home sales in Middle Tennessee last year were 47% higher than the total for 2000, the last year in which the area saw a decrease in the number of closings. Since then, historic low interest rates have helped spur a record number of buyers into the housing market, here and nationally.

Exton said he believes Nashville’s housing market has been buoyed by a stable jobs picture, as evidenced by recent corporate relocations such as building materials supplier Louisiana-Pacific Corp. and pharmacy benefits manager Caremark Rx Inc. moving here.

”We’ve had solid job growth and quite a few national corporate headquarters come to town,” Exton said. ”I think it’s just a place people want to be.”

Tight supply

For people who want to be in a new home, however, there are fewer homes to choose from. The inventory of homes on the market at the end of December stood at 12,258, the lowest level since the 1990s.

Exton attributed the lower inventory to the year’s rapid sales pace and the holiday period, a time at which a number of homes are typically pulled off the market. That could create pent-up demand this spring, Exton said, when warmer weather tends to encourage more ”for sale” signs to pop up again.

Even so, Exton said the local housing market will be hard-pressed to match 2004’s record sales total over the next 12 months. Nationally, the National Association of Realtors is forecasting home sales to decline slightly in 2005, as an expected rise in interest rates could crowd out some buyers.

”We’ve had five years of continued improvement year after year,” Exton said. ”It’s just not realistic to expect that to continue forever.”

By William Williams
January 07, 2005

The Metro Board of Zoning Appeals approved variances Thursday that will allow construction of an 18-story contemporary condominium at 1910-1918 Adelicia Street in Midtown.

The board voted 7-0 to grant sky exposure plane and setback variances to CRP Venture I, a move that will allow Corner Realty Partners LLC to develop the approximately $55 million Adelicia Lofts.

Groundbreaking is slated for this summer. The development also will feature a more traditional four-story residential building, a retail space and a relatively concealed five-story parking garage.

To be located at Adelicia Street, Chet Atkins Place and 20th Avenue, the buildings will total 225 residential units and will feature a design and function combination that has never been tested in the Nashville market.

Ray Hensler, Corner Realty president, said the support of the Metro Planning Department, Vanderbilt University and many of the area’s business and property owners helped in the BZA variance process. No opposition was voiced at the meeting.

“We’ll now focus on fine-tuning our unit plans and finish packages so that we can begin taking reservations next month,” Hensler said.

Many city officials and urban planning advocates strongly support the New Urbanism project.

“In reviewing the proposed development, the Planning Department feels the applicant has met, or exceeded, our design recommendations for the project,” Rick Bernhardt, Metro Planning director, wrote in a memo to the BZA.

Local attorney Tom White represented CRP Venture I in the effort. White represented the two other development companies that attempted to build on the parcel. The BZA granted the necessary variances to the developers, but neither moved forward for various reasons.

“This specific proposal is, by far, the best of the three proposals, and the other two were certainly good,” White said. “The design and pedestrian-friendly mandate of this building will be a huge asset to the city’s current movement to bring quality of life to the urban core.

“This piece of property is the most important yet to be developed in the Midtown area,” White added.

In a letter to BZA Chairman Tom Kanady, Judson Newbern, associate vice chancellor for Vanderbilt University’s Campus Planning and Construction Department, said the project fits the context of the area’s dense built environment.

“In a recent discussion with [Ray Hensler] about the design and mixture of uses in the potential development, it appeared to the several campus interests represented that an appropriate balance is being proposed to energize, but not overwhelm, what needs to congeal into a neighborhood district,” Newbern wrote.